by Jeff Olson, Special for USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Olson, Special for USA TODAY Sports

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The iconic No. 3 that Dale Earnhardt made famous is about to return to NASCAR Sprint Cup racing with a Nationwide Series championship on its resume.

Using the number Earnhardt and team owner Richard Childress sent to six of the late Earnhardt's record seven championships, Austin Dillon claimed the title Saturday night by finishing 12th in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

It wasn't as simple as it sounded for Childress' grandson. And it came with controversy.

Dillon needed to finish within six positions of Sam Hornish Jr. to claim the title, but trailed him early in the race by as many as 18 slots while he fought an ill-handling car that required adjustments. Dillon rallied late in the race to get close to Hornish, who finished eighth after 12 of the final 17 laps were run under caution.

"We didn't have the car we needed to run up front tonight," Dillon said. "It was probably the worst car we've had all year. We fought. My guys kept me positive in the car. I knew I just had to go on that last restart. I've been criticized about restarts for a long time, but this was a pretty good one."

He was quick to thank his grandfather, younger brother Ty and his family for their support.

But an odd finish and a red flag that never came for the final wreck, involving Regan Smith, Jeremy Clements and Mike Wallace on lap 183 that left two cars aflame and took 25 minutes to clear, hurt Hornish Jr.'s chances of catching Dillon for the title.

A red flag would have halted the race, but instead NASCAR kept the race under yellow and laps ticked off the board. NASCAR called off the restart three times before finally letting the field go with just five laps left in the 200-lap event.

Hornish Jr., who trailed Dillon by five points by then, didn't have enough time to make up the deficit even with Penske Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano near him to help.

Keselowski won the race and Hornish Jr. finished eighth, three points short of the title.

"What can I say?" Hornish Jr. said. "Any other time there probably would've been a caution. It's just one of those things that wasn't meant to be. We'll just take what we learned and try to do the best with it from here on out."

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition, indicated the oil left on the track by the crash created the lengthy delay. Three times officials signaled one lap to go before the restart, only to have it called off.

"There was no need to throw a red," he said. "You can use hindsight every chance that you want to, but in this particular time we did the best we could. It was more important to get the track ready."

Roger Penske, who won his first Nationwide Series owners' championship, said he questioned the decision regarding the 25-minute caution period, but didn't confront Pemberton about it.

"It's hard for me to believe that we would sit there for 15 or 16 laps with so much at stake for Sam and Dillon and Ford and Toyota," said Penske, who owns cars driven by Hornish, Keselowski and Logano. "But I didn't get into it."

Keselowski was 11th on the final restart, but blasted past the leaders to win and give Penske Racing the owners' title.

"We had four goals coming in here: win the manufacturers' championship for Ford, help Roger win the owners' title, help Sam win the championship, and win the race," Keselowski said. "We got three out of four."

Hornish Jr. will not return to Penske Racing next season, ending a relationship that dates to 2004 and includes one of his three IndyCar championships and his 2006 Indianapolis 500 victory.

"He was one of the greatest open-wheel racers we ever had," Penske said. "I think I maybe started his career backward. Today people want him, and he's going to have a chance to drive something next year. A couple of things out there look quite promising. I would support him always."

Dillon became the first driver to win a major NASCAR championship without winning a race, a statistic at odds with the previous driver of the No. 3 car. In his career in the No. 3 car, Earnhardt won 67 Cup races.

But, with the move, Dillon also has the opportunity to win the Triple Crown, sweeping all three of NASCAR's major series. He also won the 2011 Camping World Series title.

"The Cup series will be fun to run," Dillon said. "We've got a plan. I'm really excited about (Richard Childress Racing)'s equipment.

"Everyone is leaning in the right direction. We've got some blue sky ahead of us."

In the end, Childress, Earnhardt's longtime friend and team owner, held three fingers in the air, bracing for the expected return of the famous number to NASCAR's top level next season.

"Hard to believe," Childress said, choking back tears. "And in the 3."